Henman: Murray can be world number one in 2017

Former British number one Tim Henman believes that Andy Murray can unseat Novak Djokovic as world number one during in 2017.

Murray has enjoyed a productive campaign, with the 29-year-old winning both Wimbledon and the Olympics for a second time.

But the world number two will still finish a significant distance behind Djokovic in the end-of-year rankings after the Serb has added a further two Grand Slam titles to his CV.

However, such is Murray’s dedication, that Henman believes his fellow Britain has a chance of overhauling Djokovic in the new year.

"After the French Open where Djokovic won, you were thinking that Novak was so far in front and that he was going to win four in a calendar year," said Henman.

“But, you know, there has been other things going on. You look at Andy and it is going to be hard for him to be number one this year but if he keeps going like this then March, April time next year he definitely has a shot.

"For me one of the most remarkable moments of the Olympics and I watched it all, was Andy achieving what he did, winning gold again, in a final which was just incredible.

"Then he does his medal ceremony, he has his press conference, and then he gets on a plane to go to Cincinatti. Other athletes were saying 'I've got three months off now' but he didn't have three days off.”

Nevertheless, Henman believes that if Murray is to leap-frog Djokovic, then he may need to sacrifice his Davis Cup commitments.

Fatigue has taken its toll on Murray over recent weeks after defeats in the US Open quarter-finals and Davis Cup semi-finals.

"The Davis Cup is an unbelievable tournament, an unbelievable event, but in all honesty it hasn't really worked in the last five or 10 years when you look at the number of players who have said they aren't playing," added Henman.

“Switzerland won but [Roger] Federer and [Stan] Wawrinka said they weren't playing, and I understand why. With the calendar it is so difficult to get all the different events in.”